Outdoors: Angels Landing at Zion National Park worth a hike

2:16 AM,
Jan. 17, 2013

Hikers make their way up 'Walter's Wiggles,' a steep series of tight switchbacks along the trail to Angels Landing in Zion National Park. The wiggles are named in honor of former park superintendent Walter Ruesch, who had the idea to build the trail. (Marek Warszawski/The Fresno Bee/MCT)

Written by

Marek Warszawski
The Fresno Bee

Angels Landing got its evocative name in 1916 when a Methodist minister named Frederick Fisher gazed up at the towering sandstone monolith, turned to his three traveling companions and exclaimed, "Only an angel could land on it!"

The name stuck, even though mere mortals stood upon the lofty 5,790-foot summit a decade later when officials completed an ambitious trail that remains one of the most famous and thrilling in the entire national park system.

Some would add "dangerous" to that description. Six people have plunged to their deaths on the Angels Landing Trail since 2004, a grim tally ...